Athletic Club 0-3 Real Madrid: Los Blancos end winless run as Mbappe nets brace

Real Madrid beat Athletic Club resoundingly to end a three-game winless run and move a point behind La Liga leaders Barcelona, but Trent Alexander-Arnold was one of two important players to suffer an injury blow.

Match Report

Xabi Alonso's team had drawn three straight games in the top flight to fall behind Barcelona at the top of the table but moved back within a point of the Blaugrana with victory on Wednesday.

Mbappe had already been thwarted by Unai Simon by the time he brilliantly took down Trent Alexander-Arnold's cross-field ball and whipped past the Spain goalkeeper in the seventh minute.

Thibaut Courtois then did well to deny Alex Berenguer and Vinicius Junior hit the post at the other end, before Eduardo Camavinga nodded into an open goal from Mbappe's headed assist at the end of a fine Madrid move three minutes prior to the break.

Mikel Jauregizar saw an effort from range tipped over by Courtois early after the restart as Athletic sought a way back into the game.

But Mbappe had his second shortly before the hour, catching Simon off guard with a wonderful low whip from 25 yards that nestled into the bottom-right corner.

Federico Valdverde was athletically denied by Simon in the closing stages but Madrid had already well and truly sewn up the game by that point.

Data Debrief: Mbappe the hero again as Madrid become centurions

Mbappe was in typically influential form and each of his four shots in the game were on target, while he greatly outperformed his 0.44 expected goals (xG).

The French striker now has 25 goals in 20 games across all competitions, the most among players in Europe's top five leagues (excluding the Club World Cup).

Victory here marked Madrid's 100th LaLiga win over Athletic (P189, W100, D37, L52). Only two teams have reached 100 wins against a single opponent in the competition's history - Madrid themselves against Espanyol (109) and Barcelona also against Espanyol (104).

Match Events

0' The match is about to start!

4' Mbappe swirls around the defenders and attempts to shot but his effort is saved

7' GOAL! Mbappe weaves his way past opponents & nets! Athletic Club 0-1 Real Madrid

14' Guruzeta  latches onto a cross and fires the ball but his shot goes high

18' Vini Jr sends a pass into the box, but his attempt is thwarted and cleared

25' Guruzeta latches on to a pass, and he unleashes a shot but Courtois denies him

29' What a save! Berenguer goes one-on-one with the keeper but Courtois denies him

31' Trent almost makes an error but Militao is alert to clear the ball

33' Vini slips past defender but fails to feed a pass into the path of his teammate

38' Vini Jr's effort is saved by the keeper

42' GOAL! Camavinga nets a header as Mbappe assists! Athletic Club 0-2 Real Madrid

42' Referee blows his whistle as Mbappe seems to dive in the box

49' Jauregizar fires a shot in from distance and forces a good save out of Courtois

54' Trent is substituted due to injury and Raul Asencio is on

59' GOAL! Mbappé fires a long-range thunderbolt! Athletic Club 0-3 Real Madrid

69' Camavinga off, Arda Guler on

81' Valverde unleashes a poweful shot from outside the box but it is denied

Line-ups

Athletic Club XI: Laporte, Iñigo Ruiz de Galarreta, Lekue, Berenguer, Unai Simón, Gorka Guruzeta, Dani Vivian, Nico Williams, Alejandro Rego, Adama Boiro, Mikel Jauregizar

Subs: Berchiche, Gorosabel, Vesga, Jesús Areso, Aitor Paredes, Nico Serrano, Álex Padilla, Urko Izeta, Unai Gómez, Eder García, Endika Buján, Selton Sánchez

Real Madrid XI: Courtois, Rudiger, Alexander-Arnold, Mbappe, Valverde, Militao, Tchouameni, Vinicius, Camavinga, Bellingham, Álvaro Carreras

Subs: Ceballos, Brahim, Lunin, Fran García, Rodrygo, Güler, Gonzalo García, Raúl Asencio, Endrick, Fran González, Franco Mastantuono